1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a marker block for trafficways in form of an oblong, beam-like body, having a substantially constant cross-section over its length and having a lower bottom surface, and two lateral faces.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Marker blocks of this kind forming state of the art are used for delimiting routes, ways and other communications, traffic areas and green plots. They are usually made of concrete, but may be fabricated from another solid material having inherent stability, as for example natural stone. A typical embodiment of the marker block of the state of the art is the so called curbstone or a stone for delimiting lawns, which is used in the form of a straight block for rectilinear boundaries or in the form of a curved stone for curved borders in communications or for the laying-out of greens. Furthermore the marker blocks of the state of the art include all those high or low stones, which separate footways and bicycleways from nearby lanes for motorvehicles and line and delimit for instance traffic islands from other traffic zones.
All these known marker blocks are fixed at their lower, usually flat bottom or fixation surface and additionally with a lower part of at least one of their lateral faces in a bed, usually a bed of mortar, and are fixed permanently.
In this way typically only a part of their lateral faces, generally only one lateral face, is available for marking functions. The placing of the known marker block requires an excavation. When subsequently laying the known marker blocks on trafficways a part of the trafficway directly adjacent to the lateral faces has to be excavated and needs repair or filling later on. A drawback of the known marker blocks lies especially in the fact, that the subsequent addition to existing traffic areas affords a considerable amount of work, which is linked to high expense.
It is regarded as rather detrimental, that the known marker blocks are entirely stiff, they do not reduce tensions or forces if loaded for example by a wheel of a motorvehicle. This rigidity of the known marker block has the further disadvantage, that non-rectilinear delimitations either have to be realized with marker blocks specially made with the curvature formed therein as needed, which takes pains and is costly, or have to be assembled of rectilinear marker blocks in the form of a polygon. In the latter case severe problems arise for small radii of curvature, as acute corners are formed. This is especially the case for traffic islands.
Finally it is an disadvantage of the known marker blocks, that once they are placed, they cannot readily be non-destructively lifted up and be reused. Especially for those marking purposes, which are intended only for a short duration, the known marker blocks are thus detrimental.